The problem is almost everyone in the US uses credit cards etc -> so having the driver handle the money is not easy - it almost always will need to go through s

The problem is almost everyone in the US uses credit cards etc -> so having the driver handle the money is not easy - it almost always will need to go through someone else (usually a merchant gateway, merchant processor etc.). Taxi's do it by saying the credit card machine is "broken" to avoid the merchant / middleman charge - is that what you are proposing? If the drivers process all the amounts gross will they properly deduct the commissions paid to uber / lyft? I actually like the idea - just you are putting a fair bit on the drivers -> merchant accounts, chargeback handling and dispute resolution, etc. And you generally need good credit to manage all this.